The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement on August 6, 1965, Congress amended the Act five times to expand its protections. Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act secured the right to vote for racial minorities throughout the country in the South. According to the U. S. Department of Justice, the Act is considered to be the most effective piece of federal civil rights legislation enacted in the country; the Act contains numerous provisions. The Act's "general provisions" provide nationwide protections for voting rights. Section 2 is a general provision that prohibits every state and local government from imposing any voting law that results in discrimination against racial or language minorities.

Other general provisions outlaw literacy tests and similar devices that were used to disenfranchise racial minorities. The Act contains "special provisions" that apply to only certain jurisdictions. A core special provision is the Section 5 preclearance requirement, which prohibits certain jurisdictions from implementing any change affecting voting without receiving preapproval from the U. S. Attorney General or the U. S. District Court for D. C. that the change does not discriminate against protected minorities. Another special provision requires jurisdictions containing significant language minority populations to provide bilingual ballots and other election materials. Section 5 and most other special provisions apply to jurisdictions encompassed by the "coverage formula" prescribed in Section 4; the coverage formula was designed to encompass jurisdictions that engaged in egregious voting discrimination in 1965, Congress updated the formula in 1970 and 1975. In Shelby County v. Holder, the U.

S. Supreme Court struck down the coverage formula as unconstitutional, reasoning that it was no longer responsive to current conditions; the Court did not strike down Section 5. As ratified, the United States Constitution granted each state complete discretion to determine voter qualifications for its residents. After the Civil War, the three Reconstruction Amendments were limited this discretion; the Thirteenth Amendment prohibits slavery. These Amendments empower Congress to enforce their provisions through "appropriate legislation". To enforce the Reconstruction Amendments, Congress passed the Enforcement Acts in the 1870s; the Acts criminalized the obstruction of a citizen's voting rights and provided for federal supervision of the electoral process, including voter registration. However, in 1875 the Supreme Court struck down parts of the legislation as unconstitutional in United States v. Cruikshank and United States v. Reese. After the Reconstruction Era ended in 1877, enforcement of these laws became erratic, in 1894, Congress repealed most of their provisions.

Southern states sought to disenfranchise racial minorities during and after Reconstruction. From 1868 to 1888, electoral fraud and violence throughout the South suppressed the African-American vote. From 1888 to 1908, Southern states legalized disenfranchisement by enacting Jim Crow laws. During this period, the Supreme Court upheld efforts to discriminate against racial minorities. In Giles v. Harris, the Court held that irrespective of the Fifteenth Amendment, the judiciary did not have the remedial power to force states to register racial minorities to vote. In the 1950s, the Civil Rights Movement increased pressure on the federal government to protect the voting rights of racial minorities. In 1957, Congress passed the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction: the Civil Rights Act of 1957; this legislation authorized the Attorney General to sue for injunctive relief on behalf of persons whose Fifteenth Amendment rights were denied, created the Civil Rights Division within the Department of Justice to enforce civil rights through litigation, created the Commission on Civil Rights to investigate voting rights deprivations.

Further protections were enacted in the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which allowed federal courts to appoint referees to conduct voter registration in jurisdictions that engaged in voting discrimination against racial minorities. Although these acts helped empower courts to remedy violations of federal voting rights, strict legal standards made it difficult for the Department of Justice to pursue litigation. For example, to win a discrimination lawsuit against a state that maintained a literacy test, the Department needed to prove that the rejected voter-registration applications of racial minorities were com

Vice Admiral Peter John Wilkinson is a former Royal Navy officer who served as Deputy Chief of Defence Staff from 2007 to 2010. He was National President of the Royal British Legion from 2012 until 2016. Wilkinson was born on 28 May 1956, he was educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, the University of Wales, Lampeter. Wilkinson joined the Royal Navy in 1975, where he served in submarines, he commanded the submarines HMS Otter and Vanguard, being promoted to Captain in 1995. He was Captain of 2nd Submarine Squadron from 1999 to 2001, he was the Director of Naval Service and Conditions from 2001, Naval Secretary and Director-General Human Resources from 2004. From 2005 to 2007 he was Defence Services Assistant Chief of Defence Staff, he was promoted to Vice Admiral and appointed as Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff in August 2007. Wilkinson was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2010 Birthday Honours and retired in August 2010. In retirement Wilkinson became chairman of Seafarers UK, a charity supporting seafarers in need and their dependants across the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets, clerk of the Worshipful Company of Cooks.

He is a trustee of the Armed Forces Memorial appeal, which has built a new memorial to service personnel who have lost their lives on duty. The memorial is located at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. After the resignation of Lieutenant-General Sir John Kiszely, he was appointed National President of the Royal British Legion in October 2012 and served until May 2016

Antonfrancesco Vivarelli Colonna is an Italian politician. He serves as Mayor of Grosseto and President of the Province of Grosseto. Born in Florence, he attended the Naval Academy of Livorno, he graduated as an English and German interpreter at the High School for interpreters and translators in Pisa and started his career as a professional translator and interpreter. He became official of the regiment "Piemonte Cavalleria 2º" of Trieste, obtaining the rank of lieutenant, he took his leave in 1998 and moved to Maremma, where he started to administer the estate and the agricultural business of his family in Orbetello and Grosseto. Vivarelli Colonna held important positions in trade union associations dedicated to safeguarding agriculture and livestock, he served as president of "Confartigianato Grosseto" from 2011 to 2016. He ran for Mayor of Grosseto as an independent at the 2016 Italian local elections, supported by a centre-right coalition formed by Lega Nord, Forza Italia, Brothers of Italy and the civic list "Maremma Migliore".

He took office on 23 June. He was elected President of the Province of Grosseto on 8 January 2017. 2016 Italian local elections List of mayors of Grosseto "Antonfrancesco Vivarelli Colonna". Ministry of the Interior of Italy. Retrieved 10 November 2018. "Antonfrancesco Vivarelli Colonna – Sindaco". Comune di Grosseto. Retrieved 10 November 2018